The Koch Brothers Have a Hand in Wisconsin’s Unrest

It turns out that not only did billionaire conservative brothers David and Charles Koch support the candidacy of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, but they also pushed Walker to have a showdown with state unions. So says Tim Phillips, the president of the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity, who are helping to lead anti-union counter-protests in the state and leading anti-union measures in Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, too. But it’s all in the name of equality. “A balanced budget will benefit Koch Industries and its thousands of employees in Wisconsin no more and no less than the rest of the state’s private-sector workers and employers,” said Koch Industries lobbyist Jeff Schoepke. The effort hasn’t been lost on Wisconsin’s protesting workers, either. At a demonstration on Monday, one protester held a sign reading, “Gov. Walker: Kick the KochHabit.”